Last October, 2005, was our first October back in our beloved Colorado after fifteen years in Southern California. My husband, two sons and I eagerly snatched up the nicest pumpkins with the most character at the Denver Botanic Gardens pumpkin patch at Chatfield with high hopes of turning them into our new neighborhood's jack-o-lanterns with the most character.

We carved our pumpkins last October on the sidewalk in front of our house near the front door. We scooped the glop and seeds from inside each one and tossed them onto newspaper, just as we always do, then rolled up the soggy newspapers and threw them away. Mess, be gone! Or, so we thought.

I was astonished this week to see something beautiful, green, and oh-so-lush taking over a corner between our house and our sidewalk suspiciously close to the pumpkin-carving spot of last fall. I do believe we have a "volunteer" pumpkin plant.

Oh, the determination of living things! Without soil prep, fertilizer, a careful gardener or any care at all, at least one stray pumpkin seed seems to have found its own way. Is there a life lesson here?

Stay tuned. You know I won't be able to resist logging this resourceful plant's progress.